Garret Gottlieb Schmutzler, 19, Minot, received on Monday a deferred imposition of sentence for three years of supervised probation on a Class C felony charge of promoting obscenity to minors. Judge Todd Cresap ordered Schmutzler to have no contact with the alleged victim in the case and to pay $525 in court costs. He will receive credit for four days already served in jail. The sentence is consecutive with a three-year deferred imposition of sentence for a Class C felony charge of dissemination of obscene material in another case. In that case, Cresap also ordered him to pay $525 in court costs. Both charges will eventually be dismissed if Schmutzler complies with all terms and conditions of the court. The state dismissed two Class A misdemeanor charges of luring a minor by computer and disobedience of a judicial order under the terms of a plea deal.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed with the court in one of the cases, Schmutzler allegedly sent a sexually explicit photo of himself to a 17-year-old girl in November 2020 and had sent her multiple sexually explicit messages via Instagram and asked her to send him nude pictures of herself. The girl told police that Schmutzler is not her friend, she did not want contact with Schmutzler and the images and messages he sent her were unwanted. Schmutzler had also allegedly been harassing other girls, according to the affidavit.

Schmutzler was charged in September 2020 with Class C felony possession of child pornography and was forbidden as a condition of bond to access the internet unless it was for school. According to the probable cause affidavit filed with the court in that case, Schmutzler had downloaded child pornography images, some depicting young children, on a cell phone. He had also viewed adult pornography. That charge was later amended from Class C felony possession of child pornography to Class C felony dissemination of obscene material.